Nexus 6 specs, price and release date

Google has finally confirmed details of the Nexus 6. As expected, the phone is a six-inch phablet running Android 5.0, also known as Lollipop. The Nexus 6 will be available for pre-order from 29th October, with a price yet to be confirmed. Update: the US price will be $649 off contract through the Play Store.

Nexus 6 specs

Update: The full specs of the Nexus 6 have now been confirmed. The highlights are a six-inch quad HD display, dual front-facing speakers, a cutting-edge Snapdragon 805 quad-core 2.7 GHz processor and 13-megapixel camera with f2.0 lens.

The battery is a large 3220mAh capacity, which Google promises will deliver 24 hours of from a charge, including six hours of use from just 15 minutes of charging.

The devices runs the Android 5.0 OS—Lollipop—and this will be made available to other Nexus devices in the coming weeks.

There’s also a new Nexus 9 tablet, built by HTC, along with the Nexus player, a new streaming media device. Both of those will be available for pre-order from the 17th October.

30 September: The specs of the Nexus 6 are now all but confirmed. Previous information from a benchmark test of a device known as the Motorola Shamu had revealed many of the key details including processor and screen resolution, but it had also pegged the screen size as being 5.2 inches.

A report from Android Police now states that the Nexus 6 will have a screen of 5.9 inches. The site mocked up their version of the phone—a tweaked version of the new Moto X. In the image above we’ve placed the Android Police mock-up alongside a Nexus 5 for size comparison.

A mockup of how the Nexus 6 might look in comparison to the Nexus 5

Combining the information available so far, the key specs are:

OS: Android 5.0 (aka Android L)

Screen: 5.9-inch, 2560 x 1440 pixels, 496ppi

CPU: Snapdragon 805 quad-core CPU @2649MHz (~2.7GHz)

Camera: 13MP with OIS

Battery: 3200mAh

Based on this, the main question remaining is whether the 5.9-inch Nexus 6 will be released in tandem with a smaller model.

While it would be a logical move—at 5.9 inches the Nexus 6 is well into phablet territory and likely to be less appealing to the mass market in the way a five incher would be—there are no firm reports that this will happen.

Given the apparent similarities between the Nexus 6 and the Moto X it’s not impossible that a Nexus 6 Mini could also be produced along those lines.

It’s also possible that the Nexus 5 will continue to be available. Although with responsibility for the Nexus program having shifted from LG to Motorola this year, it’s less likely that we’ll see a refreshed version of the popular 2013 handset.

Nexus 6 price

Update 2: The US price is $648 off contract through the Play Store. As expected this represents a considerable increase over the bargain prices of the last couple of generations of Nexus phone, and though it is still cheaper than other premium phablets it makes something of a change of direction for the Nexus range.

Update: Prices have not yet been confirmed. The device will be available both SIM-free through the Play Store, and on contract through AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon in the US. An earlier leak suggested the price would be around $50 on contract in the US.

30 September: The price of the Nexus 6 will be keenly watched.

Ever since the launch of the Nexus 7 tablet in the summer of 2012 the Nexus range has been known for offering high-end specs at very affordable price points, with the devices apparently being sold at cost.

A move to phablet size is likely to be accompanied by an increase in price, especially when the specs are cutting edge. A larger Nexus 6 may undercut similarly specced phablets like the Note 4 or iPhone 6 Plus, but it’s hard to see how Google/Motorola could achieve the astoundingly low price that we saw last year with the Nexus 5, at least not without selling at a loss.

This is another reason to think that there may a smaller device as well. Amazing value is the main appeal of the Nexus range, and if this goes it becomes a much harder sell.

Nexus 6 release date

Update: The Nexus 6 is available for pre-order from the 29th October, with availability from November.

30 September: The Nexus 6 will launch with Android 5.0, also known as Android L. What L stands for is yet to be revealed.

Rumours have suggested that HTC would announce a nine-inch tablet, the Nexus 9, on 16th October, going on sale a week later.